Got ink? Springfield sees rise in tattoo studios

Sunday

Kevin Veara was one of the first tattoo artists in Springfield. When he opened his studio, Black Moon Tattoos, there were only a handful of true artists in town with two formal studios.

Now, decades later, there are between 30 and 40 artists and 15 tattoo studios operating in Springfield.

Tattoos and their perception in popular culture have evolved over the last several decades. Once considered a form of rebellion and included in negative stereotypes of biker culture, tattoos have made it to the mainstream. In fact, tattoos are so widely accepted that a recent Pew Research study said that nearly four in 10 people born after 1980 now has a tattoo.

“It’s part of the culture,” said Veara. “Who doesn’t have a tattoo?”

The old school

Veara got into tattooing almost by accident.

He moved to Kentucky with his wife after earning a master’s degree in fine arts at Southern Illinois University Carbondale. While he was there, he wanted to get a tattoo fixed, and the artist took a look at his drawings and suggested he go into tattooing himself.

“At the time, it seemed an appropriate pursuit,” he said. “So I pursued it and I’ve been doing it ever since.”

In 1993, he moved back to his hometown of Springfield and opened Black Moon Tattoos on Edwards Street. At the time he started, tattoo culture was just starting to take off. Pictures of tattoos were included in more magazines, and public interest started to rise.

“I think tattooing has steadily gotten bigger and bigger as the group that was alive, that was anti-tattooing, is dying off,” he said. “I’ve tattooed a lot of people that wouldn’t get tattooed while their parents were alive.”

Around the same time Veara was establishing himself in Springfield, Jason Lee opened New Age Tattoos. He was 23 at the time, and he envisioned a new way to do tattoos.

Lee said when he first started learning the art, the old-school parlors weren’t the healthiest place to get a tattoo. He said they were often run by drug abusers and lacked cleanliness. Cross-contamination was rampant.

“I basically opened New Age with the idea of ... offering a new objective in tattooing,” he said. “Cleaner environments, better artists involved and a much more professional environment.”

Since then, a lot of the tattoo studios that have opened follow a similar model.

Illinois also requires tattoo artists to be licensed by the state, and studios must pass an inspection before they can open.

Lee also was one of the first to start taking on artists and apprentices. He said in the past, trying to learn how to tattoo was like pulling teeth, because none of the artists wanted to train people to become their competition.

Now, people are a little more willing to share information, and Lee has had a handful of apprentices over the years who have opened their own businesses in town.

The new school

Justin Sidener used to apprentice for another tattooist in town. Now he has his own practice at Steady Hands Tattoo in downtown Springfield. The 32-year-old has only been tattooing for five years, but he’s already built up a reputable business.

“To me, tattooing felt natural,” he said. “I was able to pick it up. I’m a quick learner. It transferred over fairly easily.”

Since Sidener has been tattooing for five years, he hasn’t run into the tattoo taboo that other older artists have experienced, but he has heard some of it from his clients.

“It’s become more acceptable nowadays, but some people ask, why would you do that to your body?” Sidener said.

Steve Lima is another artist who set up his business at Steady Hands. He’s been tattooing for a decade, and he said a big reason for the shift in popular perception of body art has come from shows like “Miami Ink,” “L.A. Ink” and “Ink Master.”

Popular shows like that have let people see the artistry in tattooing, and now people are more educated and more ambitious in the kinds of tattoos they get.

“I came into it, and you couldn’t even do what I’m doing now,” Lima said. “You want to do a phoenix with colors and layers? You don’t want to try that. But now, shoot. Do I have enough canvas? If I have enough canvas, I can do anything you want me to do.”

A change in culture

Michelle Kaesebier has 10 tattoos, but her favorite one is the first one she got, when she was 18 years old.

She went to a tattoo apprentice to get a rose on the outside of her ankle in remembrance of her mother who died from cancer just before Kaesebier turned 18.

“She always followed my music, and she got to see my spring recital my senior year,” Kaesebier said. “‘The Rose’ was one song that we had performed, and I had a solo in it … that was the last thing she got to see me do.”

Veara said most people get tattoos to honor a milestone or to mark a transition in their lives — whether it’s to mark a death of a family member or a divorce. Most people who get tattoos get something with significance.

That was the case for Kris Charles. He has four tattoos on his arms, and every one of them have a special meaning. On his left arm, he has a tiger which symbolizes the unit he served with in the 82nd Airborne Division out of Fort Bragg, North Carolina. On his right forearm, he has the airborne wings, because he was a paratrooper in the Army. On his right shoulder, he has the Archangel Gabriel to symbolize his middle son, Gabe. And on his left forearm, he has the crest of the Blue Lantern Corps from DC Comics with the name of his oldest son, Dylan. Underneath the crest, it says “Embrace your power.”

The tattoo for Dylan was one Charles decided on with his son. In the “Green Lantern” universe, the color blue symbolizes hope. Since Charles and his son are both fans of the comics, they decided to use the blue lantern crest to symbolize the hope that Dylan will one day live with his father.

“That’s the power of hope. Don’t ever give up hope,” Charles said.

Since the Blue Lantern crest is a more obscure symbol, most people don’t understand the meaning when they first see that tattoo, and that’s an added bonus for Charles and his son.

“Hardly anyone recognizes it,” he said. “It’s my secret.”

A saturated market

Old school tattoo artists like Veara and Lee don’t have a specialty when it comes to their art. They like to consider themselves jacks of all trades, because when they started, there just weren’t enough artists in the market to be able to specialize in one thing.

Newer artists like Lima and Sidener, however, do have specialties. Sidener focuses on realism and portraits, while Lima calls his specialty more illustrative.

The number of artists in the area mean people have more choices. If you want a specific kind of tattoo, you can go to a person who specializes in that.

“In the past, it used to be, you were a jack of all trades,” Lima said. “You had to be. Now, not so much. You can specialize. And people are more aware of that.”

Another consequence of the growth of tattoo artists for Veara means he doesn’t get the volume of business he once did. Whereas he used to work five days a week, he now works only three. He spends most of his time doing smaller tattoos that cost up to $200, while more elaborate pieces can cost much more.

As tattoos become more popular and more people become tattoo artists to fulfill the demand, there are still a few people who refuse to acclimate to the idea. But to Lee, tattoos have been around for thousands of years, and will likely continue that way for the future.

“Tattooing is just a form of body modification,” Lee said. “We, as human beings, have been modifying our bodies for a long time.”

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